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St Mary’s & St Luke’s Services, Readings, News & Church at Home Resources for 19 December 2021 – Advent 4

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Weekly Information Sheet

The Weekly Sheet has news and information and the
Readings, Collect and Post Communion Prayer in it for this Sunday.

I have assessed our church’s response to Covid, and the same measures will stay in place for December and will be assessed again ahead of January. Revd Mike.


Advent & Christmas Services 2021

Inspired by readings from the Gospels of Luke and John read at so many Christmas services, At the heart of Christmas is an invitation to everyone to discover – or rediscover – the good news of God’s saving love as revealed in the birth of Jesus.

Click here for our dedicated Advent & Christmas webpage.


Join us this Saturday to sing some Carols. The whole service is outdoors this year so please dress warmly and bring a torch/lantern.



Annual Toy Service – thank you!

Thanks to all who donated in church, and online directly, to the Salvation Army Toy Appeal. In church this past week we raised £320.00. You can still donate online at: bit.ly/toysunday


Christian Aid Advent Service

Christian Aid Advent Service next Sunday 19 December at 2.30pm at St Peter’s Church, Crewe. They are looking for readers and musicians, so if you’d like to volunteer, please see Sarah Turnbull ASAP.


Carol singing at Bloor Homes: Wells Green Methodist Church invite us to join with them for carol singing at the Bloor Homes estate entrance on 22 December at 4.30pm.


The Ribbon of Poppies

Many thanks to all those who came to see the Poppy Ribbon, the donations and for all the fantastic feedback and conversations. Tom Austin has said, “The fundraising total for the display is £2,294.60 including the bucket collection in church”. What a tremendous achievement, well done to all.


Thursday Home Group – The Bible Series: Experience a better story

A 7-part journey through the big story of the Bible for your whole church.

The Bible Series: Experience a better story

To find out more about our Thursday Home Group please call Howard Barker for more info and to book a place: 07552276587. They are currently at the Bible Course from the Bible Society – all welcome!


Ladies Afternoon Group
On Thursday 27 January 2022 we are holding our A.G.M. which will be followed by a Bring and Share tea.

Audrey and Marian.


Many thanks to all the members and friends who gave a donation. We raised the marvellous sum of £120 for the Britain and Ireland Fund, this has now been sent. Thank you, Jenny.


The Church Office

Christmas office opening hours will be restricted for week of 27th December to 4th January. Please note we will aim to respond to emails and correspondence as soon as we are able upon our return.  Polly and Teresa would like to thank everyone for their support this year and would like to send our thoughts to you all for a very happy Christmas and a healthy New year! 


Morning Prayer on Zoom

Morning Prayer on Zoom, 9:30am (usually) Mon, Tues & Thurs bit.ly/930mp or by phone: 0203 051 2874 Meeting ID: 850 2058 1307 Passcode: 914961

There is also Daily Hope: a free phone line of hymns, reflections and prayers you can call at anytime on O800 804 8044.


After church refreshments

We need people who can make drinks and those who can set up the hall for January onwards, please sign up on the rota in the hall or call the office.


The hope is for people in Church of England churches across the country to use the Living in Love & Faith resources to study and pray together. The resources are designed to encourage and enable engagement and learning in a variety of settings. This church-wide learning together, listening to one another, and listening to God is part of discerning a way forward for the Church of England in relation to matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. The purpose of the resources is to enable the Church of England churches across the country to participate in a process of learning and praying together as part of discerning a way forward in relation to matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.

Revd Mike, along with the PCC, will be exploring ways to facilitate these discussions in our church community.

You can read more on the Diocesan website and download the free eBook here: bit.ly/livinginloveandfaith


Funerals this past week

Funerals still to take place
Alex Carter


Church at Home Resources for all ages

Together @ Home Resources

Faith at Home from the Church of England

Faith at Home is a national campaign that builds on the work of Growing Faith and Everyday Faith to support the faith development and pastoral care of children and young people. Click Here to go to the Faith at Home website.


A bitesize Bible experience from the Ollerton Family

Through 15 minute sessions explore famous characters and events that form The Greatest Story Ever and discover how we can be part of it today. Simple to run. Fun. Free. No prior knowledge required. This family devotional course mixes online content (videos, readings, discussion) and printed cards to form a colourful learning experience in your own home. https://thegreateststoryever.org

The Bible Society Bible Book Club

Giving to St Mary’s & St Luke

The church’s finances are under extreme pressure at the moment. I would ask you to review your personal giving to the church. If you already give regularly then perhaps consider increasing your giving, if you don’t give regularly then perhaps consider doing this. I really do appreciate the giving that happens already and the extra giving that has taken place during the pandemic. However, due to the lack of income from not being in church and from not being able to let the church hall, plus our outgoings being fairly fixed, we have lost around £30,000 in the past 12 months. This obviously places us in a difficult and vulnerable financial position. To find out more about giving to church, the ways you can do it, and how you can do it in a tax-efficient way, please take a look below. Please keep our finances in your prayers.

One Off Giving

You can give via our very simple online giving partnership with Give a Little and Sum Up. Simply click the button below. Sum Up take a small transaction fee from what you give.

Click here to give online

Giving via you Bank – online or phone

You can give via your bank via online banking or telephone banking. If you do it this way we receive 100% of the money you give, there is no transaction fee. Here are the details you need to make a payment directly into the church bank account. For phone banking you may need to take a look at a statement from your bank and it normally has the details of how to do this on the back. You can give once or set up a monthly payment. Please remember to never give passwords over the phone and only call the official number on your statement.

Account Name: St Mary’s Wistaston PCC
Sort Code: 08 92 99
Account No: 65067004
Ref: your initial & surname

Easyfundraising

A very simple way to give, if you shop online or do click and collect, is through Easyfundraising – it doesn’t cost you a penny as by using Easyfundraising a percentage of what you but gets given to the church.
We’ve raised over £1600 through Easyfundraising. For more information on this please click here.

Giving Leaflet with

Click on the image to view/download the leaflet.